2024 10 03

Brian setting up his telescope. St Germain, Wisconsin. July, 2024. © Clayton Hauck

One weird abstract thought I often revisit is the sheer amount of events happening all over our solar system at any given moment. Like a tree falling in the woods with nobody around to see it, there are so many epic and amazing things happening right now, as you read this, that nobody will ever know about. Massive storms on Jupiter bigger than our entire planet; rocks colliding into other rocks at speeds we can only imagine; long-scrapped human-made exploration devices so remote and lonely, existing in a void without any planet nearby to give them a sense of belonging. And all of this just within our own home system, which, while relatively close, still remains largely a mystery to us due to the remarkable size and distance.

Once you start to view the Milky Way in the sky and get a better sense of the scale we exist in, things quickly get impossible to comprehend. Then, when you consider our galaxy system is one of billions of other galaxy systems, each comprised of billions of stars and likely trillions of planets, it’s no wonder we mere humans have a countless number of Gods we call on to meekely attempt to make some sense of the whole thing.

-Clayton